this was very tough for me i had a clear top 4 but they were all extremely close in ranking all being games i beat multiple times some from franchises i loved to new entries, honestly alot just came down to technical aspects to seperate them..

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia has me kinda excited(fire emblem vibes), but will wait for the reception of it,

desparados 3 is interesting but i likely wont have time for it with xenoblade.

obviously will play TLOU2 but am personally not that excited for it, i don't like the uncharted games much though TLOU was my fave out of naughty dogs modern games and the dodging mechanics and heavy stealth look promising.

note: i am expecting to like TLOU2 quite a bit but i expect doom, FF7 and cyberpunk to beat it out by years end.

i have alot of respect for batman and portal 2 though i really need a replay of the batman games as i am super rusty and they lost of to my top 2 because i have replayed and revisited them many times with upwards of 200hours in each.

while i never actually finished portal 2 (stolen) but it derserves the praise because of it's uniqueness.

little sad saints row didnt make it at all though the recent remaster is a nice makeup.

Skyrim is great, the length and freedom are well known and while I replay it frequently I've only ever beaten it once.

Personally my favorite Bethesda game is fallout 3 as I feel like skyrim can simplify things a little too much at times (a problem compounded in fallout 4) but skyrim also make enough improvements over oblivion that it ultimately becomes an upgrade.(even if my heart tries to convince me otherwise)

As I mentioned above dark souls is my #1 of all time skyrim is still likely around a #8.

as an avicii fan i loved this game, missed it at release but was included with twitch prime for this month.
even aside from the music its a very well made rythem game and it even has a fun dumb little story to go along with the progression.

i'm that guy who bought the Chinese version of demons souls off eBay before its western release, so i was obviously primed for dark souls and it is my number 1 game ever (demons is close and i don't love bloodbornes horror vibe as much, though i think it is the better game).

obviously i love the level design and general rpg-ness but i have also always loved the lore and storytelling of the souls games as apposed to a more cinematic style.

i am a little surprised that is not higher. though batman, skyrim and portal 2(all also in my top 4) are all wonderful... "casual" games"

my guess is portal 2 will have the most #1 votes though i think skyrim could win with just more numbers. batmans a wildcard(and i havent played it since release so my memory is rusty).

Edit:An interesting thought I have about souls style games is they kind of have their own genre language, kinda like fighting games or shooters once you learn that you basically understand all of them. It's just that those others have games to bridge the gap/introduce you like smash bros or call of duty, where as souls kinda started its own thing and throws you straight into doom eternal or tekken 7 with no tutorial.
the bridging games came later like jedi fallen order etc.